Title: Denial of the Soba Noodles
Author: CassieRaven
Rated: T
Genre: Romance, Humor
Warnings: Alternate Universe (AU), Mamoru being a Baka, Denial is Mamoru's River! Apron Cuteness!
Summary: Easy to cook conveniently, nutritious and loved, Soba Noodles are deliciously scrumptious...Unless, according to Mamoru, it really depends on who's cooking the Soba. Uh oh!
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Sailor Moon; Sailor Moon the Manga (Comic/Graphic Novel series) was created and owned legally by it's creator Naoko Takeuchi, while other companies have or had prior licensing rights to the original Anime and various reboot Anime Series Sailor Moon, such as companies being Toei Animation, Madmen Entertainment, VIZ Media, DIC Media, Cloverfield Media, etc. The characters contained herein are not mine. The only thing I own rights to or creation are if any of my original characters are in this fan fictional story. No money is being made from this fan fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only. I own nothing! Thus no need for lawsuit!
Author's Note: Hello again all of my fellow Sailor Moon Moonies (and any readers/reviewer fans out there!) I've returned with a new story. This time, it has been inspired by a favorite noodle dish that I consider my go to Japanese instant meal to slurp on when I can't get myself some ramen noodles or a cup of noodle, to go with a veggie or chicken dish...SOBA NOODLES! Sometimes, it came be amazing what can inspire us writers, especially when inspiration strikes at random when one day, you get hungry and start craving some soba noodles, and then this happens.
This is another story taking place in an AU (Alternate Universe) setting. You know the usual, No Sailor Senshi, no Tuxedo Kamen, blah, blah, blah, etc. This story is going to be a few chapters, probably a three to four parter via chapters. Well see won't we? I hope everyone will enjoy reading this, please enjoy.
Prologue: Compliments to the Chef...NEVER!
"Mmmm, that smell delicious. Is that garlic I smell sizzling on that grill Makoto?" Motoki asked, sitting on his couch in the living room, as his nose continued to pick up the scent of garlic with various other spices and the strong smell of onions coming from inside the small kitchen area of his apartment.
"It could be, but maybe you should ask the 'chef' who's actually at the stove on the grill griddle and not me. I've taught her well, especially when it comes to saute-grilling the garlic and onions with seasoning slowly first into the pan or grill with either a little bit of butter, margarine, or oil of one's choice." Makoto's voice called from where she was in the opened kitchen, as she was standing next to one of her best friends, the shorter 'chef', watching as she carefully moved the sesame oiled garlic cloves with small and big pieces of fairly minced onions and seasoning spices around the black ironed plug in griddle tray with her silicone spatula.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that giving her lessons over the last two years in baking and basic cooking has paid off for you both; Usagi's achieved some culinary skills of her own now, and you were the one to pass off your knowledge and skills to her Makoto. I can't wait to taste test whatever it is you both are cooking up in there." Motoki praised to the girls who both echoed back a 'arigatou' in response, while sitting next to him, his other guest snorted a response of annoyance.
"What? There's nothing wrong with giving them, especially Usagi a little bit of positive praise and appreciation Mamoru. Especially when Makoto had come into the arcade last week asking me if I wouldn't mind being a willing taste tester to try a new dish that Usagi wanted to test out for her recipe exam for their cooking class in their home economics class at Juuban High." Motoki chided, as his best friend still snorted-held back a laugh behind a cough, and his dark eyes of blue rolled in annoyance.
"Are we sure we want to really eat anything that the Odango has cooked? Are you sure you want to risk not only your health and stomach but mine as well? Remember what happened three years ago?" Mamoru hammered the questions as his voice held skepticism and fear dreading their fate of being 'taste testers' for the dumpling haired blonde in Motoki's kitchen.
"See, this is why you'll never get a girl friend long term or much less ever get married if you keep being this much of a grumpy old man with your negativity my friend," Motoki tsk'd him as Mamoru focused his attention back to whatever was on the television, before the blonde continued to speak.
"It happened one time. It wasn't Usagi's fault, she hadn't known that the store bought per-mix do it yourself already prepared food in the containers were expired out of date. She didn't notice it because Minako didn't see the expired marks on them either when they went to get it for the girls and our picnic gathering Reika wanted to have for her return party from Africa. Besides, if memory serves me right as I recall, it wasn't me who got accidental food poisoning from those potato and coleslaw salads Usagi prepared...you were the only one who ate them on your plate while the rest of us were plate piled up from Makoto's homemade BBQ rib-lets and corn on the cobs," Motoki continued on with a smirk on his face as his best friend started to tense up and shudder as his memories of that awful day getting food poisoning began to come back in hot flashes.
The "cold poison salads" incident as he had called it had happened three years ago. Mamoru had been in his first year as a college freshman at university at the time attending Keio University, and interning at Juuban hospital doing medical interning as a first year intern student. Motoki had been attending Keio as well, majoring in business and business ethics. Motoki had been the one with Reika to plan the picnic celebration party for everyone to see Reika after she had returned from her time doing study abroad with her professor working in studying plant life and insects with her work as an archaeology student. He remembered how everyone had been there from both Motorist and Reika's families, the girls Ami, Makoto, Minako, Rei along with Rei having brought her temple caretaker and wanna be rockstar boyfriend Yuuichirou, and then...the Odango one of who made his life more annoyingly complicated. Mamoru remembered sampling the potato and then the coleslaw salads first before planning on trying the other things that Makoto had placed on the park picnic tables for everyone to help themselves to. (He had assumed that the brunette wearing pony tailed haired girl had made everything served.)
It had taken about twenty minutes after he had eaten the salads before the food poisoning had taken effect to him. It had hit him dead on just as he was about to sample the fried chicken that Rei had brought with them saying that her grandfather the old man Hino had made, when he suddenly felt his stomach cramping and feeling like his insides were burning. The next thing Mamoru had known, Ami had been calling for an emergency ambulance, Motoki and Makoto were trying to help lay him down to figure out what was wrong, while Rei was rushing with Yuuichirou to his car to look for a first aid kit, and Minako and Usagi were looking worried with Reika standing next to them. He remembered having been driven to the hospital, Ami being in the car with him, Rei, Minako and Usagi while Yuuichirou was driving them; Ami had told the dispatcher on the phone she felt it was signs of accidental food poisoning, based on Mamoru's physical tell-tale signs, and what he had eaten. Though Usagi had the entire car ride to the nearest hospital had apologized while in tears, Mamoru still felt though she tried saying she was sorry and it was an accident, that she was to blame for the hours later he had to endure of getting his stomach pumped in the emergency room.
After that day, three things had happened: One, Mamoru swore to himself never to eat potato salad or coleslaw salad ever again if it was the last thing he would ever do. Two, he would never eat picnic or potluck arranged food if he didn't know who had made it, bought it, or prepared it. Three, he would never, ever, ever, EVER trust to eat or drink anything that one Usagi Tsukino either purchased or cooked or baked on her own period.
He had thought once the Odango also known as Usagi had entered high school with her friends that maybe Rei's maturity and some of Ami's studying approaches to the girls weekly study session visits to Crown would have rubbed off on her...sadly he was mistaken.
Usagi, in his opinion hadn't changed much with her loud hyena laughing and shouting, eating like a professional freak eater; though her grades did "slightly" approve of moving from low scores to obtaining at least a C average. Though he had gotten along well with her best friends, he still had the same relationship with Usagi; their usual routines of sparring fights and name-calling hadn't changed much. Even after three years had gone by, she was still the same, the typical Odango that in his opinion was hopeless of ever doing something to pass and graduate high school seeing how, according to her best friends, Usagi unlike them wasn't sure what she wanted to actually do with her life after graduation. He knew that Ami had planned on going into the medical field to become a surgeon and wanted to do surgery for children in the children's hospital. Rei had planned on not attending college, she had her heart set on settling down with Yuuichirou to continue running the Hino Temples and be a Priestess. Minako...though it sounded ridiculous to him, was seeking to get involved into majoring in the performing theater arts to continue pursuing acting and modeling; while Makoto planned to attend culinary school in Tokyo as well as look into majoring in business to have her own bakery shop.
Though, Rei once had said she assumed that Usagi probably would be great working with kids like working in a field with children, attending college to maybe do child development or sociology behavior sciences...Mamoru personally couldn't see Usagi of all people working with children. Much less doing anything like becoming a teacher or working at a daycare school with children, the idea horrified him. 'Who would trust her with a child?!' he had questioned it in disbelief. Even if she had figured what she wanted to do and even became successful with her life after graduating, she'd likely end up like her Mother, Mrs. Tsukino, being a housewife if she ever managed to get herself married, much less find a husband.
Mamoru hadn't been surprised she survived making it to her senior year of high school. He was more so surprised that there had been one field in a course class she had really been supposedly interested in taking offered at her high school..which was Makoto's field...Home Economics Cooking! Usagi, it had seemed, had taken, according to the girls, not that bad to the beginning cooking classes some time in their sophomore year, and had managed to survive passing classes into the cooking class level alongside Makoto. So with having heard the tales from the girls and even Motoki that Usagi had honestly gotten better in cooking, took her cooking classes in the home economics department seriously, and was actualling not that bad of a cook,if not perfect compared to Makoto's level of chef expertise...Mamoru Chiba couldn't help but be both skeptical and fearful...especially when Motoki his so-called "best friend" had invited him over earlier that afternoon, asking him to help him taste-test Usagi's new dish.
"I was there for hours, hours Toki...getting my stomach pumped, feeling miserable! Now, you want to send me back to the emergency rooms to go through that again? I'm not eating anything of whatever the heck she's making in your kitchen unless you and Makoto eat it first." Mamoru hissed, while Motoki was shooting daggers at him as if mentally telling him to shut up.
"Usagi has gotten better, trust me. Even Rei can vouch for her. Rei and Yuuichirou told Reika and I the other weekend when they had Usagi and the girls come to the Temple to celebrate Grandpa Hino's birthday that she had helped Makoto make his birthday cake, and as well, Usagi herself had made him his own personal cinnamon-brown sugar apple pie tart and that it had looked perfect. He had tried the first slice and had wolfed it down after the first bite. Rei said everyone tried it and no one got food poisoning, it had been delicious. We both know Rei's quite brutally honest, more so than you are, and for her to say that Usagi's truly gotten better at cooking and baking, you would think it's a miracle."
"Fine, fine. I'll eat whatever she's making then...at least Makoto is back there supervising and monitoring right next to her to make sure she doesn't screw this up...what? Stop looking at me like that, I really do want to live to graduate to become a doctor who isn't dead thanks to a teenage girl's horrible cooking!" Mamoru tried defending himself as Motoki continued to give him the look of death and disbelief just as the blond motioned him to shut up again, as Usagi came out of the kitchen.
"Toki-kun, Makoto's keeping an eye on the grill while she puts the Soba noodles into the pot to boil next to it. I wanted to ask if you'd mind if I borrowed a couple of things from your pantry cabinets or fridge. I forgot to buy fresh ginger, green onions, and extra eggs for the dish and rice. Do you mind," Usagi asked politely, her long pigtails and dumpling shaped buns pinned up in pins and a bandanna of pink fabric with bunnies patterns covering her hair, a floured stained used pastel green apron that had an ironed on image of a character looking baker's hat bunny chibi style, covering her pink t-shirt and jean blue shorts.
"No trouble at all Usagi, help yourself. I think there's some leftover ginger paste with a few long green onions and eggs in the fridge. There's some soy sauce and omelet spices in the pantry if you think they'll help. Whatever you're whipping up in there smells delicious, right Mamoru?" Motoki smiled friendly to the girl, while quietly motioning to his friend to say something kind to her as well of motivation.
"...Let's hope you don't set off Motoki's smoke alarm or his building's fire alarms with whatever monster you're creating in there Odango," Mamoru retorted with a smirk as Usagi's eyes widened and then glared at him murderously, clenching her fists.
"You're one to talk Mr. Orders Out Crappy Greased Up Take Out Delivery and lives practically everyday for plain black coffee at Toki's parents cafe. He's told me how you only survive on tofu, pancakes, and omelets seeing how that's all you cook in your apartment and what it smells of besides Chinese take out carts and McDonald's greased fast food takeaway bags and wrappers." Usagi hissed as she eyed her arch enemy with disdain as she moved in the open kitchen to where the pantry cabinets were, and began grabbing little spice jars, before turning back to where the men were in the open living room next to her.
"Unlike you creep, I don't need to survive on fast food joints or take outs all the time anymore. I've actually improved in cooking, thanks to lessons over time from my Mama and Makoto-Chan. I can make anything that has a good or potential recipe. In fact, my teacher Mrs. Ryo said I'm most improved in her class since Freshman year Home Economics! You're going to eat your words once you've eaten my Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Eggs and Garlic, along with Curried Chicken Rice Makoto's made baka! Hope you've brought your appetite Chiba-Baka!" Usagi smirked as she turned on her pink bunny slipper-ed heels and marched back into the kitchen with an energy of full confidence.
"...You better have some after stomach and heart pain medicine or heartburn pills in your medicine cabinet ready after dinner Motoki...", Mamoru mumbled as he continued to glared in disdain at where the angry chef bunny had just been standing at.
If he was going to be forced by his best friend to eat the cocky little Odango bunny's unknown cooked plate of lunchtime disaster of a meal, then he hoped that there was enough tums tablets and pepto-bismol liquid medication to help him and his stomach survive the chaos.
There you have it, the Prologue/Introduction to a new short part-chapter story of AU setting.
I hope everyone enjoyed reading this, I hope no one minded that this Prologue was a little short. Just look at it as a little sampling taste of what is to come in the upcoming chapters/parts to this story in the next part. I will be updating this story ASAP in the upcoming weeks. So if you've enjoyed reading this, please don't hesitate to leave a review.
Until we meet again in this story's next chapter or in another story I post up, later.